Dr. Agathon Carver
Character Analysis

A friend of Medora Manson, Dr. Carver runs the Valley of Love community, which is a fictionalized version of the numerous experimental communities in New England in the late nineteenth century. These groups shunned the traditional values of society and even advocated free love. Thus, Dr. Carver represents an alternative to the confinements of society at which Archer and Ellen chafe. However, Dr. Carver’s community is never represented as a particularly alluring or realistic option.

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Medora Manson explains that Dr. Carver lives the life of the spirit and is preparing for a lecture he’s about to...
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Chapter 18

...while she fussed with her hair. She sees that it’s time for Medora to join Dr. Carver , and she and Archer show Medora out. The unconventionality of Ellen’s familiarity with Nastasia...
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...still in Washington with Ellen. They supposedly left in order to get Medora away from Dr. Carver , who wanted her to join his Valley of Love. They weren’t expected to attend...
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Chapter 21

...at the sound of her name. Medora says she’s staying with the Blenkers in Portsmouth. Dr. Agathon Carver is holding meetings there, which are a very different scene than the one before them....
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Chapter 24

...in danger of making a bad marriage. Archer is surprised that Ellen isn’t worried about Dr. Carver , but she says he only wants Medora as a convert to his social schemes....
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